Last Friday I went out again to paint plein air at the Alster. The day before I didn’t have a good feeling, because the east wind was getting stronger. East wind in our latitude means arctic or Siberian cold. Not nice at all. And I was right. Even though we only had ‑2 Degrees Celsius (28 Degrees Fahrenheit) the wind just cooled you down and makes the color go very tough to paint with.
This morning I listened to a podcast with Mary Pellis and Eric Roads »On painting what moves your soul«. At some points it resonated deeply with me.
»When you try to find your artistic voice: Go outside and do little studies and line them up.You will start to see what it is that excites you.Those paintings will have a more powerful shape, a beautiful line, or a more powerful tonality.«
Lack of time might not be a disadvantage because »of the miracle of turning of the intellect and painting intuitively.«
Well, cold weather adds up to that. It just freezes your brain. I needed to stop this painting much earlier than when I wouldn’t have, because I was shivering.
Foto: Astrid Volquardsen, 2017
Cold Wind, 18x24cm, Oil on MDF, Astrid Volquardsen, 2017
Detail from »Cold Wind« Foto: Astrid Volquardsen, 2017
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